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January 2018

01/31/2018

“You have just found out that your older relative has signed a contract, and you want to take action.”

You worry about your aging loved ones and fear that others will try to take advantage of them financially. Sometimes the people who rip off our seniors are strangers, but they are often friends, relatives, neighbors, caregivers or other trusted individuals. You have just discovered that your older relative has signed a contract, and you want to take action. Here is what to do when your elderly loved one signs a contract with diminished capacity.

Evaluate Whether Your Loved One Had Enough Capacity to Enter into the Contract

Determining whether someone has legal capacity, is far more complicated than it initially seems.

Age alone cannot rob someone of capacity. There are people over 100 years old still sharp and able to sign binding legal documents. There are also people 30 or 50 without capacity.

Having a particular medical diagnosis does not, in a vacuum, negate capacity. A person can have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, dementia, or some other condition, and still be able to sign binding documents when in a “lucid interval.” The challenge is to prove the state of mind, when the person signed the document.

The law also imposes differing standards of capacity for different situations. The capacity to marry, vote, drive a car, serve in the military, make a will and stand trial when charged with a crime, all have their own yardsticks to measure capacity. According to the American Bar Association, the definition of diminished capacity changes depending on the transaction under discussion. A person might can decide what to buy at the grocery store but not have the capacity to sign the documents involved in selling his house.

Standards for Capacity to Enter into a Contract

Here are some of the different standards for contractual capacity:

For general contracts, the courts will explore whether the senior understood the business deal she was engaging in and the nature of the contractual act and how it would affect her. Business transactions highly complex, require a greater level of understanding by the senior.

Real estate contracts usually have the same standard for capacity as general contracts.

In some states, creating a durable power of attorney requires the same level of capacity as a general contract, but in other states, the bar is set at the capacity to make a will.

The standard for testamentary capacity (making a will or trust), you must know who your heirs are and others to whom you would likely leave your assets, know of what property you have and how much you have, and be able to merge these concepts into a rational donative plan.

Steps to Take If Your Loved One Signed a Contract When Lacking Capacity

If your loved one lacked capacity when signing a contract, you can challenge the contract. The first steps can be informal, such as contacting the other parties to the contract in writing to challenge the contract on the grounds of lack of capacity and advising them to cancel the contract. However, if your loved one is in imminent danger of financial loss, you may need to contact law enforcement or your local prosecuting attorney, also called a district attorney.

You can consult with your local office on aging and adult protective services and request they investigate and take action. You can also hire an attorney to write demand letters to the other parties and sue asking the judge for a declaratory judgment that finds the contract null and void.

Every state has unique laws, and this posting discusses the general law. Talk with a local elder law attorney.

01/30/2018

If you need a type of healthcare that Medicare does not pay for, you will either have to carry another insurance plan that pays for it or pay for it out of pocket.”

Jane Fonda has a habit of shaking things up. When she spoke about life’s third act at a TED talk, she did not disappoint. If you also view the last three decades of life as a significant developmental stage in which you can succeed in whatever you pursue, whether in art, science, literature, or another field, you do not want to be held back by health issues or stifling medical bills. Therefore, are you planning for your Third Act? It is important to understand the things that Medicare DOESN’T pay for.

How the Items on This List Can Affect Your Enjoyment of Life

If you need a type of healthcare that original Medicare does not pay for, you must either carry another insurance plan that covers it or pay for it out of pocket. Forbes says that Medicare will only cover about half of your medical expenses in retirement.

If you must spend a significant portion of your fixed income in retirement on medical expenses, you will not have that money to do the things that can bring you joy, like traveling or visiting your grandkids. You might not afford the things that make life comfortable, like keeping the thermostat set where you are neither too hot nor too cold, buying nutritious food or replacing worn coats, shoes, and clothing.

The Uncovered Eight

There are eight categories of services and items Medicare will not pay for, that you must pay for through other coverage or pay out-of-pocket. These are:

Long-term care, also called standard nursing home care or custodial care. Nursing home expenses can gobble up your life savings within a year or two. Custodial care is one of the most sizeable costs a person can face. Medicare will cover medically-necessary skilled nursing care for a short period. However, it does not cover standard nursing home care. Medicaid pays the expenses of more nursing home residents than any other single payer.

Eye exams for getting prescription glasses. Medicare does not help pay for these exams, but they will cover medical procedures for the eyes.

Dental care. Medicare does not pay for most dental care.

Dentures. If you lose your teeth because Medicare refused to pay for your dental care, the harm is compounded because Medicare will also not cover the cost of your dentures.

Hearing aids and fitting exams. Hearing aids are expensive, but Medicare will not pay for either the devices or exams for fitting them.

Foot care. Many people experience problems with their feet as they age. Unfortunately, Medicare will not help you with the cost of routine foot care.

Acupuncture is a minimally-invasive treatment that can bring pain relief for many people, but Medicare will not pay for it.

Cosmetic surgery rounds off the list of the eight things Medicare does not cover.

Caveats: Even when Medicare pays for healthcare, you must still pay your premiums (usually nothing for Part A, but most people must pay Part B premiums), deductible, coinsurance, and copayments.

The information in this posting is general law. The law in your state may be different, and there may be other programs available where you live. Talk with an elder law attorney in your area.

01/29/2018

“The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers programs to help with funerals and burials of qualifying veterans and can help support the surviving spouse and unmarried children.”

Your deceased friend or loved one served in the military, and you wonder if our government will provide any benefits. The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers programs to help with funerals and burials of qualifying veterans and can help support the surviving spouse and unmarried children. So, how can the VA help when a veteran dies?

Burial in a National Cemetery

Any veteran not dishonorably discharged can be buried in one of the 135 national cemeteries, depending on the space available. The veteran must have served for at least 24 continuous months or the full term of the veteran’s call for active duty, if less than 24 months. To see if your loved one is eligible, fax the discharge papers to the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 1-866-900-6417, then telephone 1-800-535-1117 to follow up.

Veterans who are not eligible for burial in a VA national cemetery include people:

With a dishonorable military discharge never amended

With a bar from veterans benefits due to their character of service

With orders to report, but were never inducted into service

With a final conviction of a federal or state crime for which they could have received the death penalty or life in prison.

With a final conviction of a Tier III sex crime and were sentenced to at least life in prison

With a conviction for subversive activities, unless pardoned by the President of the United States

Whose only military service was active or inactive duty training in the National Guard or the Reserves.

Cash Burial Benefits

If you paid for a funeral for your loved one, who was a veteran, you might get some of your costs reimbursed. The veteran must meet the eligibility requirements for VA burial benefits. If you, as the claimant, did not have to pay for a funeral, the VA will not give you cash for the burial benefits. This is because the program should reimburse you for out-of-pocket costs. The VA may reimburse transportation costs, if the veteran is buried in a VA national cemetery.

The VA will reimburse you up to $2,000 for the burial expenses of a veteran whose death was service-related. If your loved one’s death was not service-related, but the veteran died in a VA hospital, the VA will reimburse you up to $762 for the funeral and burial expenses. The VA funeral and burial expense reimbursement for a non-service-related death, in which the veteran did not die in a VA hospital, is $300. If your loved one was not buried in a national cemetery after a non-service-related death, the VA will give you an allowance of $762 for plot-interment.

Burial at Sea

Your loved one might be allowed a burial at sea. However, the National Cemetery Administration will not pay for it or arrange. The U. S. Navy Mortuary Affairs handles burials at sea. You can call them for information at 1-866-787-0081. The government will sometimes provide a headstone or marker for a veteran with a burial at sea.

Survivors Pension

If you are the surviving spouse or unmarried child of a deceased veteran who served during a time of war, you might be entitled to a tax-free Survivors Pension (also called a Death Pension). You must be low income and remain unmarried. There are strict eligibility requirements. Therefore, contact the VA regional benefits office in your area to apply.

This article discusses the general law. There may be additional benefits available in your state, so check with a veteran’s rights lawyer in your area.

The OAA began in 1965 as a safety net for our most at-risk people 60 years and older. If you are at least 60, you meet the general eligibility requirements. However, you might not actually receive help through the OAA, because these programs have a mandate to focus their limited funding on people who:

Have the most financial need

Have the most social need

Have low-income and are members of a recognized minority category

Live in rural areas

Have low-income

Are frail

Therefore, even if you are a senior and have little money, if you are not in critical need, you might be too low in the pecking order to receive benefits from the OAA.

What Services Does the OAA Provide?

The purpose of OAA services is to assist seniors in remaining independent and living in the community unless that arrangement is not safe or practical. OAA programs can provide:

Meals delivered to the person’s home

Meals served to multiple seniors in a setting like a senior center or adult day center

Caregiver training and assistance

Assistance in the home

Transportation

Some preventive medical services

Elder abuse protection

Job training

Part-time employment in community settings, like senior centers, schools, and libraries

OAA Services Help Seniors Stay at Home in the Community, Instead of Nursing Homes

Providing these essential services is less expensive than paying for nursing homes, which cost an average of around $90,000 a year. When surveyed, over 85 percent of people getting OAA assistance agreed that the services helped them to continue living at home, instead of a nursing home.

Many Older Americans Who Need Help, Do Not Get OAA Services

The federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) says that fewer than ten percent of lower-income seniors get OAA-provided meals, and many of our elders who need help with daily activities get little or no OAA help in the home. Millions of older Americans are food insecure, yet hardly any of them get OAA assistance.

OAA Has Less Inflation-Adjusted Money to Help More People Than Before

In fairness to the OAA, you can only stretch a dollar. The number of Americans aged 60 and older increased about 30 percent from 2004 to 2014 and is expected to go up by 55 percent from 2014 to 2020. The funding for the OAA, however, when adjusted for inflation, went down from $1.04 billion in 1990 to $768 million in 2014. During that same time, the consumer price index went up 84 percent and the price of gas increased by 235 percent.

The federal government provides most of the funding for the OAA. It distributes the money to states in proportion to the number of seniors living in each state. States must partially match the federal funds they receive.

OAA programs and services are different in every state, as are the laws. Talk with an elder law attorney near you.

01/12/2018

“A daily money manager can pay the bills, keep the checkbook in balance and oversee investments. They can go through and toss the junk mail, sorting out what is important, saving the elderly from potential fraud and ensuring that important documents do not slip through the cracks.”

You visit your aging parents and see piles of unopened mail or past due notices on bills. When you ask your folks about it, they get angry out of embarrassment and tell you it is none of your business. You offer to help, and they push back even more. It is understandable that they want to be independent and hang on to their dignity. You might be uncomfortable, feeling as if it would be an invasion of their privacy for you to go through their checkbook and mail. So, you wonder, should I hire a daily money manager for my elderly parents?

Why a Senior Might Need Help Managing the Daily Financial Matters

Think back to when you were first learning how to do all the financial things an adult living on his own has to handle. It was overwhelming. Now imagine trying to deal with all that “adulting” when you are living with common symptoms of aging, such as diminishing eyesight, confusion, and memory challenges. Since elders tend to have more medical issues than younger people, they also have to try to make sense of countless insurance and Medicare forms.

If you make a mistake managing your money, you have plenty of time while still in the workforce to dig your way out of it, but your aging parents are likely retired or will be soon. This means being on a fixed income and not working. When elders lose money, they have less to live on with no way of replacing the funds.

How a Money Manager Can Help Your Parents

A daily money manager can pay the bills, keep the checkbook in balance and oversee investments. They can go through and toss the junk mail, sorting out what is important. The manager can complete and submit insurance forms and handle charitable donations.

The money manager will protect your parent’s financial security and credit score. She will help your parents stay independent, while maintaining their dignity. The manager will let your parents spend their time doing the things they love, that they worked a lifetime to enjoy. You will also be free from worrying about your parents, spending hours trying to handle their financial matters and being put in an awkward position. It is not surprising that now, even younger people are hiring daily money managers to take on the time-consuming task of handling their financial matters.

Other Options for Managing Your Aging Parents’ Money

Some companies serve a niche clientele who do not need someone to go through their mail, but just need someone to pay their routine bills. For a flat monthly fee, your parents direct that their regular bills go to the bill paying service company, who pays them out of your folks’ checking account. Some services include membership in identity theft protection as part of their package.

Beware of Con Artists

Giving someone access to your money and financial information exposes you to the risk of identity theft, fraud and embezzlement. Make sure the person you choose for your parents is trustworthy and ethical. Get references and check reviews. Ask your bank, broker, accountant or attorney for recommendations of reputable companies. You should also check with the Better Business Bureau. If the company is a member of a financial association, check with that association to see if people have filed complaints against the company. It is also recommended that you check online for any indication of fraudulent activity. If the company does not have a solid online presence, you should look elsewhere.

If you have questions about how to keep your aging loved one safe from financial fraud and ruin, schedule a consultation with a local elder law attorney today.

01/11/2018

“Do you want to track the activities and daily routines of your aging loved ones who live far away, by monitoring when they use their electronic appliances? We have AI for that.”

Families worry about their aging loved ones who live independently. They want to know if Grandma is safe and healthy. Years ago, the popular gadget for the elderly was the “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” monitor. Today’s artificial intelligence technology has rocketed miles beyond those days. Now, AI helps improve senior citizen health and well-being.

Even the Jetsons Did Not Think of These Innovations

It is almost surreal what you can do with technology today. Do you want to track the activities and daily routines of your aging loved ones who live far away, by monitoring when they use their electronic appliances? We have AI for that. If Grandpa always gets up and makes his coffee at 7 am, but it is 10 am and he has not done so, you can send someone to check on him.

You can find a caregiver who has the exact skills your aging loved one needs at a price she can afford.

Seniors can keep track of their daily activities, vital signs, and medications, using Cloud technology.

Family members can remotely participate in the care decisions of their independent aging loved ones through video chat with care providers.

An updated version of the “I’ve fallen” button provides greater peace of mind for the senior and relatives.

A caregiving companion is a hybrid of high-tech and real human interaction, providing 24-7 social interactions between seniors and real people who can, through their electronic devices, remind them to eat or take their medication, or who can just talk with them to prevent loneliness and isolation.

Whether you are a patient or a nurse, you can reach a doctor remotely through the use of technology, without the patient having to go to the hospital or doctor’s office.

A doctor can access a patient’s medical records from multiple service providers, to make sure what the doctor prescribes will not cause an adverse reaction with another medication or treatment of the patient.

Patients battling depression can get help remotely, either online or by telephone.

The Human Touch

In addition to the high-tech advances for seniors, some innovative start-up companies provide face-to-face services to help improve daily life for aging adults and their families. Even if you have a large, involved family who lives close to an elderly relative, taking grandma to all of her doctor visits and other appointments can wreak havoc on everyone’s work schedule.

Either the entire burden falls on one person who was already busy, or the family members use up their sick days and personal days off from work to get her where she needs to go. A start-up company in Florida matches college students with elderly clients to provide transportation or companionship for the seniors. The company is a “grandkids on demand” service.

Another company offers an alternative to traditional assisted living centers. The service links seniors with private caregiver homes instead of nursing homes. This option can be less expensive and more personalized than a large assisted living facility.

If you have concerns about your elderly loved-one’s well-being and would like legal advice, talk with an elder law attorney near you.

01/10/2018

“In a bizarre twist, although the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is not raising the Medicare Part B standard premium amount in 2018, most retirees will have to cough up 23 percent higher premiums this year.”

Medicare sounds like a simple concept – if you paid into the system, you will one day qualify for Medicare to help pay your doctor and hospital bills in retirement. Social Security provides monthly checks for people who paid into the system and are retirement age. What most people do not realize is that premium increases to Medicare and cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) to your Social Security check can have unexpected effects on each other. In fact, seniors may lose out on COLAs due to Medicare changes in 2018.

In a bizarre twist, although the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is not raising the Medicare Part B standard premium amount in 2018, most retirees will have to cough up 23 percent higher premiums this year. Wait, what? Yes, you read that correctly.

Medicare and Social Security have a “hold harmless” provision that does not allow Medicare premium increases to be higher than the COLA increase to Social Security checks for that year. This rule is because the Social Security Administration (SSA) usually takes your Medicare Part B premiums off the top of your monthly Social Security check. If your Medicare Part B premium went up more than your COLA, your check for one year could be less than the year before.

How the Hold Harmless Provision Can Wipe Out Your COLA in 2018

While the hold harmless rule sounds like a laudable protection for seniors, it will backfire on many of our elderly in 2018. Because of the harm holdless rule, about 70 percent of seniors on Medicare are paying $109 per month for Medicare Part B, (which covers outpatient health care services like doctor visits), even though the standard premium is $134. (Most Medicare recipients pay nothing for Part A coverage, which is hospitalization insurance.) With no COLA in 2016, Medicare premiums held steady. In 2017, there was a 0.3% COLA, which came to about $5 a month more in Social Security checks for most people, so Medicare premiums could only increase about $5 a month.

The SSA announced a 2% COLA for 2018, which comes to about $27 a month for the average retiree. Medicare is now allowed to raise the amount existing Medicare patients have to pay for premiums, up to the amount of the 2018 COLA. Adding the $109 monthly premium most seniors paid for Part B in 2017 to the $27 a month increase in Social Security benefits, Medicare could raise premiums up to $136 a month. So even though the standard monthly premium of $134 will not technically increase, the amount most people have to pay will spike, gobbling up all but $2 of the increased Social Security monthly check for most individuals.

The SSA bases COLAs on how much more expensive they expect standard living expenses to be in the coming year. If seniors need $27 more a month on the average to meet their increased living costs, and all but $2 of their increased monthly checks are eaten up by Medicare premiums, they will have to find a way to pay the extra $25 in costs each month, or tighten their belts even more than they already are.

01/09/2018

“The Center for Medicare Advocacy cautions that the proposed revisions to the rules will increase the risk of harm, injury, or death for nursing home residents.”

Regulations enacted during the Obama administration tried to achieve a higher quality of care and improved safety for our seniors who live in nursing homes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are now back-pedaling on enforcing those policies. Many of the new rules were supposed to be in place by November 28, 2017. However, nursing homes will now have another 18 months to come into compliance. If you have relatives in nursing homes, you may wonder that for CMS to refrain from enforcing certain nursing home regulations – how might this affect your elderly loved ones?

The new regulations covered such patient-focused safeguards as:

Having a sufficient number of staff present at the facility

Employing staff who are qualified to deliver behavioral health services

Correctly prescribing psychotropic medications

Violations of the new regulations (which were the first significant rules update for nursing homes since 1991) came with the threat of:

Being kicked out of the Medicare provider program,

Having to pay fines, and

Medicare refusing to pay for the services provided.

The CMS has decided to ignore these compliance incentives during the 18-month stay they put on enforcement of the new regulations. They will issue formal citations for violations of the new regulations. However, with no actual punishments, the citations will be impotent. The CMS justifies the 18-month stay by claiming that they will educate Medicare providers about the new regulations during that time.

The nursing home industry had cried “Foul!” at having to comply by November 28, 2017 with regulations for which the CMS just gave guidance in June of 2017. The industry wanted the new rules to be completely ignored and rewritten, so the CMS considers the 18-month stay a compromise.

How the 18-month stay can affect your elderly loved ones

With the new regulations having no teeth for the next 18 months, your loved ones in nursing homes are unlikely to see improvements in some of the problems that led to the rules, such as:

Inadequate staffing at nursing homes,

Unqualified staff at nursing homes, and

Psychotropic drugs prescribed incorrectly

Another aspect of the new regulations that is under attack by the nursing home industry, is the fine structure. The industry wants the CMS to be able to assess only one fine per violation, regardless of whether the violation lasts for one day or for years. If the CMS accepts this wish of the industry, nursing homes will have no incentive to fix problems. This is because once a violation is found and fined, the nursing home would not have to pay any more for the same violation continuing or going uncorrected.

Nursing home patient advocates warn that the CMS is taking away its own powers to enforce regulations when dealing with deficient and dangerous nursing homes. The Center for Medicare Advocacy cautions that the proposed revisions to the rules will increase the risk of harm, injury, or death for nursing home residents. The nursing home industry in the United States has a history of neglect and abuse of seniors. While we have made progress in protecting our vulnerable elders in nursing homes, the current developments are a step back toward a time when conditions in our nursing homes were unacceptable.

01/08/2018

“The new Republican tax bill could cut taxes – as well as spending for Medicare.”

People receiving Medicare benefits get nervous every time lawmakers start talking about cutting the amount of money spent on entitlements. The new tax bill Republicans are promoting could cut taxes – as well as spending for Medicare. It may not seem logical that a tax cut could hurt Medicare, so you may be wondering, how might the new tax bill affect Medicare?

The New Tax Plan Could Result in Billions of Dollars Taken from Medicare

In an effort to keep our national debt from going completely out of control, budgetary rules require automatic spending cuts whenever Congress passes bills that increase the deficit more than $1.5 trillion over a ten-year period. The Republican tax plan is expected to do just that, so statutory “paygo” (pay-as-you-go) rules will impose automatic cuts to many programs. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CFRB) estimates that the new tax bill will result in mandatory cuts to these programs:

The Congressional Budget Office says that Medicare will get hit with $25 billion in spending cuts, unless Congress works out a way to avoid hurting the program. It is possible for Congress to prevent the automatic cuts, but it would take votes from both Republicans and Democrats to make that happen. It would take 60 votes to override the automatic cuts, and there are 52 Republican senators. In the current political climate, Republicans and Democrats are struggling to work together.

Even if Medicare Dodges the Paygo Bullet

If Congress manages to work together to save Medicare from massive automatic spending cuts in 2018, Republicans have made it clear that they plan to make changes to American entitlement programs next year. According to House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Republicans in Congress intend to reduce the national deficit by cutting federal health-care and antipoverty programs. “It’s the health care entitlements that are the big drivers of our debt,” he said in a recent radio interview.

Ryan is trying to talk President Trump into going back on his campaign promise not to cut spending for Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. Other congressional Republicans blame Social Security and Medicare for our national debt, saying that entitlement programs do not help the poor, they just trap people in poverty and increase the deficit. THIS IS YOUR MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT who paid into Medicare their entire life so they would have these benefits when they couldn’t work anymore.

Some argue that Republicans are using the new tax plan to intentionally create a large deficit, in order to trigger the “paygo” automatic cuts to Medicare. Republicans counter that they want to enact reforms that give people more choices and create more competition in the healthcare industry. They claim their reforms will improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare. They suggest that government-run healthcare is a big part of the problem.

These laws can change rapidly and with little notice and the administration of federal healthcare is different in every state, so please talk with an elder law attorney near you.

01/07/2018

“The new tax plan ill use the Chained CPI method of calculating inflation for tax purposes instead of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) currently uses.”

Rumors and speculation fill the air about President Trump’s proposed tax bill, which bears the official moniker, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. If you have been listening to the news, reading the paper, or talking with friends, you could be asking, how might the new tax bill affect Social Security?

For the 34% of Americans receiving Social Security benefits who rely on it for at least 90% of their retirement income, the prospect of losing even a small portion of their monthly checks strikes terror in the heart. Since millions of seniors live below the poverty level with no safety net, even a slight reduction in their primary or only source of income could mean hardship and hunger.

New Math

The new tax plan would use the Chained CPI method of calculating inflation for tax purposes instead of the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) currently uses. Both methods examine financial data to determine how much inflation happened during a year, but the Chained CPI assumes that people will just switch to less expensive goods when the prices go up. What are the less expensive goods that we can switch to from milk, eggs, and health insurance?

Why the COLA Calculation Matters to Social Security Recipients

Every year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) decides if Social Security benefits will get a raise. If the CPI-W showed that there was inflation as of the third quarter of the year, Social Security checks will be higher the next year, because they will receive a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). If there was no inflation or if there was deflation, there will be no change, as Social Security checks cannot go down.

Indirect Impact of the New Tax Plan on Seniors

The tax plan will double the standard deduction and water down the state and local itemized deductions. These two changes will wipe out the tax benefit of making contributions to charities. Many seniors count on charitable organizations for some of the goods and services they need to survive.

There Might Be a Silver Lining

Using the Chained CPI is expected to result in less generous COLAs. Lower COLAs mean that the Social Security system will deplete its reserves more slowly. Using the current method of calculating COLAs, the Social Security system is expected to take in less money from paycheck withholdings than it pays out in benefits by the year 2022, and run out of reserves completely by the year 2034.

As with any legislation, things can change quickly, and your state’s laws may affect how the new tax plan, if passed, will impact you. You should talk with an elder law attorney in your area to protect your rights.